So who is spreading the hate?

Let me get this straight: some people despise Donald Trump because he allegedly “spreads hate,” so in response they commit hateful acts that cause much more harm than any words a person could speak, such as vandalism of signs and assaults.

What is wrong with this picture?

I’ll tell you — it just reinforces what folks are increasingly becoming aware of: those who preach tolerance can be the most intolerant people of all when others disagree with them.

Some on the far left are fond of criticizing far-right Republicans for being heartless and callous (a label they sometimes deserve). But when you get right down to it, those on the left are capable of as much meanness as anyone.

While there always will be philosophical differences between political parties which produce bad behavior, things cross the line when people stoop to illegal acts.

This has become evident with recent cases of vandalism against Trump campaign signs and other property across the U.S.

One high-profile example occurred this week in Los Angeles, where a man used a sledgehammer and pickax to smash Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. James Otis said he did so because “I just sort of had enough with Mr. Trump’s aggressive language toward women and his behavior.”

Then there was another recent incident in which a Wisconsin woman was arrested after deputies said she entered a meeting she thought was a Donald Trump rally, began to yell about how she hated him and then smeared peanut butter on cars in the parking lot.

The ironic thing was that a Trump rally was not going on at the time, but a conservation meeting.

In addition, Trump’s new hotel in Washington, D.C., was vandalized with spray-painted messages of “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice No Peace” on its front entrance.

And in the Baltimore area, large Trump signs have been burned, ripped and vandalized, a situation local political leaders and elected officials say is unprecedented.

The Internet and social media outlets are full of such accounts nationwide involving property damage. And even in Surry County, a GOP stronghold, vandalism and theft of Trump items has occurred.

This hasn’t been limited to property crimes, either.

Rachel Casey, a 29-year-old woman who is a Trump supporter, was violently attacked by progressive protesters and had eggs thrown into her hair in San Jose, California, earlier this year.

This is in line with recent reports, via Wikileaks, that show operatives working for the Democratic National Committee sent agitators to Donald Trump rallies in an attempt to incite violence. Liberal activists who say they are in contact with the Hillary Clinton campaign claim responsibility for those violent events.

This is not unlike what Hitler supporters did to disrupt other political parties before the Nazis rose to power.

Of course, the recent acts likely are only perpetrated by a minority of Trump haters, but seem to be tolerated by all the rest — compared to their attacks on EVERYTHING he says and does.

Certainly Trump, with his outspokenness and sometimes-belligerent behavior, has alienated and/or angered some voters. Many are upset with his criticism of radical Islamists as being the source of most of the terrorist attacks occurring worldwide, and his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering this country.

Others don’t like his stance on illegal immigration and desire to deport the undocumented, which they have unfairly and inaccurately portrayed as an attack on immigration in general.

His biggest “crime” in such instances seems to be not practicing political correctness, sadly a huge factor in today’s day and age.

But given that Trump’s stance on such topics does not appeal to everyone, there is a right way and a wrong way to oppose his positions. Destroying other people’s property, assaulting them or undermining their First Amendment rights is not the correct way — and even if Trump is the most evil man in the world, two wrongs don’t make a right.

For the left-leading crusaders who see themselves as knights in shining armor to commit such acts in the name of opposing hate shows they are guilty of selective outrage — not to mention blatant hypocrisy.

Rather than impressing everybody and improving the human condition with the special enlightenment they supposedly possess, their inability to tolerate any opinions that differ from their own shows what the progressives are really about.

The only “progress” I can see is trying to move us closer to Nazi Germany, China and Russia.

Tom Joyce is a staff writer for The Mount Airy News. He may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.